Jury Clears Shellfisherman of Clam Poaching

NEW HAVEN - — A veteran Connecticut shellfisherman was acquitted Wednesday of charges that he poached clams from someone else's state-leased bed in Long Island Sound.

The unusual three-day jury trial in Superior Court cleared Nicholas Crismale of the prosecution's claim that he caught in the act of stealing hundreds of dollars worth of clams from the waters off Guilford in December 2011.

"The jury recognized… that I wasn't doing anything wrong," said Crismale, a Branford shellfisherman who is also president of the Lobstermen's Association of Connecticut. "Things aren't always what they seem to be."

Crismale continues to believe he was targeted by the state because of his criticism of the way Connecticut officials handled the controversy surrounding the use of pesticides and the dramatic plunge in Long Island Sound's lobster population.

"It was a part of our defense that it was political," Crismale said of the shellfish poaching charges against him.

Crismale also blasted the state for the time and money spent to prosecute him. "My concern is also about the taxpayers," he said. "This was a complete waste of taxpayer money."

Shellfish beds are leased to fishermen by the state Department of Agriculture, and Crismale's trial came at the same time agency officials are seeking to get tough on what they say is rampant shellfish piracy.

"We are disappointed in the verdict, but continue to have faith in the system," said George Krivda, a spokesman for the agriculture department.

Asked about Crismale's accusation that he was prosecuted for political reasons, Krivda said, "It was a fellow shellfisherman that brought the complaint [against Crismale], not our agency."

State officials say they've received numerous complaints about Crismale stealing shellfish from other people's state-leased clam and oyster beds. Crismale acknowledges there have been multiple accusations of shellfish poaching against him, but denies that he's ever stolen anyone else's clams or oysters.

Crismale said that, although his boat may have been over Walton's clam bed, "My dredge wasn't on the bottom." Commercial shellfishermen use dredges to scrape across the sea floor to collect clams and oysters.

The dispute with the state that Crismale says triggered the charges against him concerned his criticism of state officials for allowing the spraying of anti-West Nile Virus pesticides along the Sound.

Many area fishermen believe those chemicals played a role in the catastrophic decline of the Sound's lobsters. State experts have attributed the lobster decline to warming waters and disease.

"I'll be back on the water," Crismale said following the jury verdict. "Hopefully tomorrow."